Called by many names a Video Conference, a Video Meeting or a Webinar – all meaning the same thing. It is an highly effective, browser based, simple to use virtual Video Meeting Room, where, at the click of a button with a link, you are able to host large or small online meetings with people locally or globally, to connect, communicate and collaborate.

Access to online meetings is now available on most ‘smart phones’.

Some are saying it is the ‘new’ business card.

Many have not yet fully embraced or grasped the power of this technology, perhaps for fear of losing ‘the personal’ touch or the ‘face to face’ meeting scenario. However, we cannot stop progress and this is where things are headed if you want to see it.

‘Going green’ is what the world is advocating and what better way to save on time, energy, airfares, hotel accommodation, increase productivity and ultimately save money, than by hosting meetings, trainings, launches etc online.

This could be perceived as an adjunct marketing platform, or an additional marketing tool to what you already have in place.

The marketplace has become global and this technology enables you to go global with ease.

General features –

· Attract and drive more people to your business

· Share Powerpoint presentations

· Share ideas

· Share Videos

· Show websites

· Share photos

· Review contracts or documents in a safe and secure environment

· Share your desktop

· Use the white boarding feature, with interactive tools, like drawing and highlighting, to make it simpler for your attendees to collaborate with you.

Creative Uses :

· WEBINAR SERIES

Develop a series of Webinars over a number of weeks, with content relevant to your clients or prospects. In this space, you can educate and demonstrate the value of your products or services. Guest specialist speakers always add value.

People perceive you differently when they know where you are coming from – eg, reducing your carbon footprint. Attract people ‘through the back door’ by hosting a Video Conference, selecting a relevant and current ’green’ subject matter, with the added attraction of a guest speaker, who should be a well-known expert or specialist in that particular field. Your guest speaker will, in their own right, easily attract a large audience – Everyone benefits.

· BOOK LAUNCHES

A book tour can be very costly. Authors can save a fortune by hosting a virtual book tour. This can be co-marketed with e-commerce book companies, online communities and off-line bookstores, that want to drive traffic to their stores and sites.

· The ARTS

For Movie/TV/Radio/Theatre/Music/Dance Promotions, use Webinars to reach large groups of people to interview actors, singers, dancers, poets, playwrights, producers, choreographers, directors etc. These web events can be conducted with the media, through relevant websites, e-commerce sites, TV, newspaper or magazine, radio web sites.

· ART EXHIBITIONS

Artists across all art form mediums, can use Video Conferencing to go global, communicate and show their art to the world. They could even stream a pre-recorded video on a virtual tour of their art from their own studio or gallery. Inviting a well known art expert as a guest speaker, who in their own rights, will attract numbers to the web event, would be an added bonus.

· MEDIA INTERVIEWS

To better assist journalists with their stories, invite reporters or editors to an online web interview to discuss issues, show products, present information and data.

· MARKET RESEARCH

Focus groups can view and research products through audio, chat or text-based questions. Polls and online surveys are also a popular feature in these focus groups and are available features with this technology.

· SPECIAL EVENTS/TRADE SHOWS/EXHIBITIONS

Create a virtual show in a Video Meeting Room, where different companies can participate in interactive sessions, with people interested in learning more about your company’s products and services. Due to budget and time constraints, people cannot always travel far distances to attend an event. CUSTOMER SERVICE

Give E-Commerce customers live assistance when choosing products. Invite them to a product knowledge session. The Video Meeting Room can feature a live individual or be a pre-recorded session.

• CUSTOMER SERVICE

Give E-Commerce customers live assistance when choosing products. Invite them to a product knowledge session. The Video Meeting Room can feature a live individual or be a pre-recorded session.

· DEMONSTRATING PRODUCTS

Web conferencing is a great way to demonstrate the uses of products.

· EDITING on the fly

Edit on the fly in a safe and secure environment, with people from different geographic regions. Everyone can view the same document simultaneously, so edits can be made quickly and efficiently, without costly delays.

· Editing WEB SITES

This is a highly efficient way to review web pages with a group of people.

· SKILLING, TRAINING

Webinars are becoming increasingly popular and convenient as a training tool.

· RECRUITMENT

Companies can easily go global and hire the best from anywhere in the world, using Video Conferencing as an interviewing tool, inviting prospective employees to interact and collaborate. Here they can upload their resumes and review same with them, together with others, who are part of the hiring process, but are located in other regions.

· CONTACT US

Video Meeting Rooms can be used as a ‘Contact Us’ feature. People can request an instant meeting to talk with you and learn more about what you do.

· INVESTOR RELATIONS

Invite analysts, media and shareholders to a Web Conference for quarterly reviews, announcements and appointments.

· COMMUNITY

A great tool for Community forums and groups to connect, collaborate and communicate on :

o Community issues, problems

o Neighbourhood watches can have a better handle on crime and policing

· COMPANY STAFF, COMMITTEE, SALES or BOARD MEETINGS

More and more businesses are seeing the value of using this technology to communicate and collaborate with employees and management nationally or globally on a more regular basis, saving time, energy, travel, communication bills, accommodation bills, etc, increasing productivity and ultimately saving money.

· DISTANCE EDUCATION

More and more institutions are embracing this technology for :

o Distance learning

o Extra mural classes moderated by Teachers

o Students can ‘study together’ without ‘being together’

o School board meetings

o Teacher training

o Academic contests e.g. debates, with other institutions

· CHURCHES, NGO’s (Charities), CLUBS

Institutions using Webinars can :

o Interact with members and constituents

o Conduct remote study with exchange groups

o Conduct Church meetings

o Conduct Board or Committee meetings

o Host Fundraising campaigns

o Host Planning sessions

o Host Remote counselling

Infographic: Video Conferencing

Heather de Wit considers herself to be an ‘out of the box’ thinker and is happy to share her knowledge on the merits of utilising Video Email and Conferencing/Webinars. Her experience as a sole Entrepreneur for over 20 years spans marketing, advertising and PR. She enjoys creative writing, singing at functions and is a self-taught artist.

Promoting Business through videos is one of the best marketing strategies which is implied by most organizations.

Videos can reach thousands of people in a very short time when they are found to be useful and attractive. There are many people searching for information and quality Videos are always available in search engines in top pages with relevant keyword niche.

Video promotion site such as UTube has good recognition for Video Marketing. Video Marketing is also one of the secret social media marketing strategies which bring quality leads for your lead generation campaigns.

Advantages of Uploading Videos

Some good advantages of uploading videos and promotion your business through videos are given below:

Setting Inbound Marketing Goals through Videos:

Through Videos, you have the options to direct more traffic for your company’s website. This increases inbound links for your website and plays major role in Inbound Marketing. It also increased subscribers for your company’s youtube channel and people can easily find your videos in YouTube.

Increases the brand awareness:

By submitting social media communities and search engines it not only increases the brand awareness but also gains trust of the customers towards the company.

Customer targeting is easy:

Customer targeting is easier through video marketing strategy and it easily conveys the message more than a text. It has been seen that videos influence people through voice or tone.

Demonstration of a product:

By Uploading videos, You can describe how your products work, what are the advantages of the product so that the customer can get a clear cut idea about the product. This not only solves the customer doubts but the demonstration can also be treated as a service provided to the customer. This builds a good relationship between the company and the customers.

Easy feedback:

Based on the feedback provided by the customers, you can even improve the product or develop a new product depending upon the queries from the customer. This also increases the brand image of the company. Sites like Youtube also allow visitors comments so that you can get to know about your customers more easily.

Google has begun experimenting with Social Search. And has open up in beta for all Google users. Google Social Search will surface search results from social streams like bookmarks,blog posts,photos, video and social networks. This is a very big step.

Before a couple of month Google, Bing and Yahoo announced to include search results from social media. These steps from Google, Bing and Yahoo can help you to get better discovered online. Because of social media marketing strategy this Google Social Search and the inclusion in the search results of Bing and Yahoo can become a booster which additionally spread your content online and helps you to become more and more visible in front of your buyer persona!

More and more businesses have understood that it is important to engage in social media or they will be left behind of their customers. If you are out of sight of your customers you practically do not exist for them and they forget you and you can loose business. Moreover more and more people have friend networks for example on Facebook and these connections can benefit you if you are only on their radar.

If you are within these connections, to spread your message to your potential and future clients is a breeze and you possible reach more and more people with the power of networking, recommendation and word of mouth.

For your business you can do these steps today to ensure Google, Bing and Yahoo will include your messages and your content you spread through, your blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Step 1. Produce valuable and remarkable content and post it to your blog. Think about what your customer benefits. Don’t try to sell!Inform, teach and be helpful. When your potential clients recognize you as a valuable source and as an expert in your field they will trust you and buy from you!

Step 2. Spread your content to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedInHow to do this with LinkedIn? LinkedIn offers an ‘Associate Your Blog’ feature, where you can associate your self hosted WordPress blog. Each update of your blog will automatically be visible on LinkedIn also. If you use a self hosted WordPress blog, than simply associate it with LinkedIn.

How to spread your content to Twitter? With this WordPress Plugin‘Twitter Tools’ you can update your Twitter account hands free every time you post a blog! You simply go to your WordPress Plugin section and search for ‘Twitter Tools from Author: alexkingorg. Crowdfavorite’ and install and activate it. Now go to Setting and insert you Twitter name and password and you are done! Now every published blog post will be automatically delivered to your twitter account. [If you have no self hosted WordPress blog, or even you have no blog, than you should consider implementing one for your business. You can go to WordPress.org and download it for free. The installation takes up to five minutes.]

To deliver your posts to Facebook is easy as well! You login into Facebook select to associate your Twitter account with your Facebook profile [You later do the same for your Facebook Fan Page] and also here will appear your new blog content.

This solution set above is free to use, you only need to do it. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are free, WordPress and the offered Plugins’ are also free.

These three and very easy steps from above need about one hour to make them work. Thereafter this system works for you night and day 24/7 and can bring you additional exposure, additional prospects and clients, as long as you produce quality, helpful and remarkable content.

Do you have any tips for how to use Opens Social Search? What are they and how do you use Opens Social Searchfor your Business?

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